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Princeton University wins 2000 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award

Posted November 6, 2000; 06:36 p.m.

by lauren

Princeton University has been selected as a winner of the 2000 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. The award will be presented at the 21st annual New Jersey Science/Technology Medal Dinner Nov. 9 at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.

The University was chosen in the Emerging Technology Category for a patent on an invention that provides a new way to capture high resolution images of human lungs. The magnetic resonance imaging using hyperpolarized noble gases is helping physicians diagnose pulmonary-related diseases. Normal MRI technology is incapable of creating clear images of lung tissue because, unlike other tissues that contain an abundance of water, the lungs are mostly air and do not have enough hydrogen atoms to emit detectable radio frequency radiation when bathed in a magnetic field.

Among the lead inventors of the new technology are Princeton physicists William Happer and Gordon Cates.

The patent awards are intended to encourage creativity and technological, commercial and sociological leadership on the part of New Jersey organizations through recognition of their inventors.